Sermon Central
-
How Gideon Formed His Attack On The Enemy Camp Series
Contributed by John Lowe on Jan 10, 2019 (message contributor)
Summary: Gideon’s battle plan appears to have been carefully worked out, but whether it was beholden to his spiritual illumination we cannot say. But what we can say is that his methods were a type of psychological warfare.
and say, [2](the sword) of the Lord, and of Gideon. When they went into battle, their cry was to be, “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon.” They could have threatened with some other expressions such as, the light is for the Lord, and for Gideon; or the victory is for the Lord, and for Gideon. These Heathens had often heard he name Jehovah, as the God of Israel, But His name would now be frightful to them, and the name of Gideon also. His name, as it appeared in the interpretation of the dream, provoked fear among them; and that is the reason Gideon added it, and not out of arrogance and vanity; and he puts it after the name of the Lord, so he would appear only as an instrument the Lord thought fit to make use of, otherwise all the glory belonged to him.
Something I find very interesting is that Gideon did not have a sword and neither did any of the three hundred men. You see they were under the rule of the Midianites, and the Midianites did not let them have an arsenal. They kept the weapons and the swords for themselves. So Gideon’s strategy employed pitchers, lamps, and trumpets.
__________________________________verse 18 notes________________________________________
[2](THE SWORD] THIS OLD HYMN SPEAKS OF THE SWORD. (THE SWORD OF THE LORD AND OF GIDEON).
Words & Music: Philip P. Bliss, 1875 (MI¬DI, score).
Philip P. Bliss (1838-1876)
It was midnight in the valley, and the camp was dark and still,
Where the slumb’ring host of Midian lay along the sloping hill,
When a blinding flash of torches, and a trumpet loud and shrill,
Threw out the battle cry:
Refrain
Blow ye the trumpet, for the Lord hath made us free;
Your blazing lamps raise high!
“The Sword of the Lord and of Gideon,” shall be
Our conqu’ring battle cry.
Where the faint and fearful thousands had returned at God’s command,
By the chosen few of faithful, vict’ry came to Gideon’s band;
Hear them giving God the glory, and around the camp they stand
And shout their battle cry:
Refrain
Christian soldiers, be not fearful; onward with your Captain go;
Ever “looking unto Jesus” you shall conquer ev’ry foe;
He hath triumphed—take your trumpets, let the world your vict’ry know;
Sing loud your battle cry:
Refrain
Gideon Chooses the Three Hundred, by James Tissot (1836-1902)
19 So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that were in their hands.--Judges 7:19 (KJV)
19 Gideon and his 100 men came to the edge of the camp. It was the beginning of the midnight watch just at the change of the guards. They blew their rams' horns and smashed the jars they were holding in their hands.--Judges 7:19 (GW)
So Gideon, and the one hundred men that were with him, which was one of the three companies his army was divided into, and was also the company he commanded, made their descent at night, when the Midianites and their allies slept, and when they were vulnerable and least expected it, and when the smallness of his army would not be discovered. In the night all frightful things are made even more frightful, especially in the dead of the night, as this was, a little after midnight, when the middle watch began, and the alarm would wake them out of their sleep. We read of terror by night as very terrible [3](Ps. 91:5), and would put them into great panic,